Chapter 394: On the Eve of Battle

A heavy, resonant roar reverberated across the sky. It was the sound of Skyborne City's main engine, powered entirely by the curio known as the Eternal Gear. Its force had been funneled into four vast alchemical furnaces that pumped energy not only into the city's primary engines but into every other system and mechanism besides.

Its colossal base, like an inverted mountain suspended in the heavens, shifted its very structure. From deep within, a great ring of metal unfurled outward, encircling the entire foundation. From this armored band extended ranks of cannon barrels. Runic formations were lit up, weaving a lattice of luminous sigils that coalesced into a defensive shield.

Countless alchemical constructs swarmed about the airborne fortress. The alchemical legions had been awakened almost in full. Save for a small reserve garrison within the city, tasked with repair and emergency response, the rest had taken to the skies, entering full patrol formations, ready to unleash their devastating firepower in an instant bombardment.

"Magnificent," Wang Yu breathed as he gazed up at the vast fortress, now bristling with martial might. "So this is what it looks like when Skyborne City enters battle mode..."

Skyborne City was an independent power, beholden to no kingdom, empire, or confederation upon the continent. Its strength and mastery of technology were unparalleled. Since the age of the Abyssal War, its duty had remained unchanged: to hunt and exterminate abyssal beings that threatened the races of the surface world.

"Upon hearing about the potential of an abyssal incursion in the form of the Dragon God, only Skyborne City mobilized immediately. All other forces either remained silent or lingered in hesitation. Ever since the Morningstar explosion, abyssal creatures have been little more than a half-forgotten tale to most."

Avia stood beside Wang Yu, quietly recounting the fragments of intelligence the Church of Nightfall had gathered. She passed on the information to Wang Yu; though nominally the archbishop of the faith, the latter had never much cared for his clerical duties.

"Not surprising," Wang Yu replied with a shrug. "No one wants to be the first to bleed. The elves and dwarves are the exception. Those two peoples are long-lived and not given to rashness.

"With their kings still alive and their champions still formidable, few would dare test them outright—save for creatures like devils. But humans, orcs, and human-orc relations can't be taken for granted."

That any ally at all had shown up at the Endless Sea with reinforcements was surprising enough. He had never expected much. Still, Skyborne City's presence as a battle-hardened ally lent him no small measure of reassurance.

Avia's eyes were fixed on the fleet of alchemical warships carving across the sea below them. "Wang Yu, now that you can wield wizardry again, linking up with the Lady of the Night won't be difficult. You can now use the Church's functionalities yourself, can't you?"

Wang Yu blinked, then laughed ruefully.

"Right. I'd nearly forgotten. I've gone so long without drawing on the void... I can reach the Lady of the Night myself. There's no need for you to act as my voice any longer."

He realized now that, with the door he had brought into being, a door that claimed a fragment of the void itself, he no longer needed an intermediary. The void energy bound to it was his to command.

Moreover, he had struck a pact with the Lady herself. She had gladly allowed him to anchor his door within her divine domain. Though he could not forge faith-based bonds with other gods, his connection to her was direct and unimpeded. Her strength was only ever a whisper away.

He clicked his fingers. Upon his palm flared the green flames of his Cursed Fire. An instant later, a crimson sheath enveloped it. Then, a third flame of the purest blue seared outward. Three fires layered one atop the other, their interplay driving the temperature of the flame to impossible heights.

"Cursed Fire, a wizard's sorcerous flame, a magician's spark... Seems like I'm rather good at playing with fire these days. Though I'll need to brush up on the runes we studied. The void within the door is finite, after all."

Wizardry had granted him the missing spark he needed: the "trigger" that awakened mana. Once a knight, he was now also partly a magician and wizard, though only a novice in both domains.

The flames blazed, distorting the air, but his palm remained unscathed. What would have melted steel vanished harmlessly against the faint golden radiance sheathing his hand.

This golden light was a gift of his door. In the void, it could cloak his entire arm; in the material realm, it only extended as far as his hand. Yet even so, its properties defied reason.

"Heat does not affect it. Kinetic force vanishes on contact. Spells cannot target it..."

He clenched his fist. The threefold flames collapsed into nothing between his golden fingers. His hand bore no mark.

Limitless defense was the simplest expression of its power. He had tested it already with Avia's help: when she had hurled a boulder at him with earth magic, it had stopped dead the instant it touched his palm. He hadn't budged an inch.

This was a strange, fearsome property. It meant that in combat, any strike blocked by this hand would result in no recoil nor momentum. Even if a dragon charged him head-on, he could halt it with one raised hand and stand firm.

Likewise with annihilation spells and curses of disintegration—so long as he could raise his hand in time, they would be rendered void. The gift he had torn from that abyssal leviathan had, indeed, elevated his strength beyond the limit of his body alone.

"Your Grace, the fleet has nearly reached its target. We will withdraw ahead. Please remain cautious."

The merfolk's message reached Wang Yu via the Tree of the Night. They now served as guides, calling upon the power of the Lord of Sea and Storm to steer the fleet and to calm the capricious waters of the Endless Sea. That the journey had thus far been so smooth was largely due to their efforts.

"My thanks to you. From here on out, we'll leave it to Skyborne City."

The merfolk accepted his words without protest; they knew the limits of their strength. To face the enemy head-on would be suicide. The true spearhead of this campaign would evidently be Skyborne City. Still, there were several priests of the Lord of Sea and Storm among the merfolk, who boasted formidable power in the open sea.

"Where's the Professor?"

Wang Yu glanced about, but could find no sign of him.

"He's in Skyborne City's alchemical workshops repairing the wreck of his metal wings. Noelle is helping. His living armor was destroyed when it ignited the furnace within Sieg's chest to create mana as well."

Skyborne City's alchemical facilities far outstripped the meager workshop they had cobbled together within the Seed of Eden. With luck, Sieg would not only be able to restore his metal wings but even upgrade them by drawing on the Council of the Arcane's most recent research.

"To create mana itself is a feat that might define our era. That the Professor could accomplish it at all is beyond remarkable. It's a pity there's no time to refine the method further or to find wider uses for it."

Wang Yu sighed and fell silent. An island was coming into view ahead—one that Skyborne City's instruments had marked out long ago.

The roar of machinery reverberated across the skies. The outer districts of Skyborne City folded away as the ground split open to receive them. In their place rose a dozen alchemical cannons, each linked directly to the four central furnaces by massive conduits. Whether they fired solid shot or torrents of pure energy, their destructive power was staggering.

Below, the armed foundation of the mechanical mass began to part at the center. From within emerged a colossal cannon, its barrel alone half the height of the city's base. Driven outward by machinery and guided by wizardry, it locked into a firing position.

The pressure it exuded was suffocating. This was Heavenfire, a great cannon that grew alongside Skyborne City. Every new technology acquired by the Central Assembly was first tested and, if viable, applied to it. Thus, no matter the era, Heavenfire always remained the pinnacle of Skyborne City's arsenal.

Even when the Assembly was under the thumb of those rotten to the core, the inexorable logic of the city's design ensured that the cannon's upgrades never ceased.

Its latest enhancement was the integration of the hypermagic system, raising its destructive power to even loftier heights. The name was no exaggeration: when Heavenfire was activated, the sky itself would be consumed in flame.

An hourglass fell into Wang Yu's hand:the Chronostasis Hourglass, a relic he had borrowed from Charles. Matters in Aleisterre's domain had grown dire. As acting captain of the Nightblades, Charles faced assassination attempts daily. The devil known as "One," who lent him foresight, and this hourglass were his two lifelines—indispensable for a figure as fragile as he was.

Under ordinary circumstances, Wang Yu would never have asked for such a curio. But these were not ordinary times. This curio might determine whether he could even intervene in the battle that awaited upon the Isle of Dragons. And he wouldn't even be using it himself—the Lady of the Night would.

The fleet pressed on in Skyborne City's shadow. The island loomed clearer. Abovehead, the silhouettes of dragons could be seen in the sky.

"The abyssal spawn haven't struck them down? Wait... that thing—is that a Hellgate?"

At first, the sight of the dragons startled Wang Yu. He had thought their kin on the island long since slaughtered. That any had survived was a shock.

But soon, his gaze was seized by something else. Something horribly familiar to him.

High above the Isle of Dragons, the skies had been riven by a vast, jagged wound. Searing crimson light blazed forth. The reek of sulfur and blood was carried by the wind. The rejection of the material plane swelled as the rift widened.

It was a Hellgate, identical to the one he had once seen in the capital—only now magnified to a monstrous scale.

Had a third power from another plane entered the fray in this war against the Abyss?